How To Change The World Podcast
The How to Change the World Podcast, hosted by Rostam Zafari, features conversations with builders, artists, and organizers who tackle challenging questions about social change. Each episode offers blueprints, cautionary tales, and calls to action for those ready to fight for a more just world. Produced by World Within Studios with PRX, new episodes are released every other Thursday.
Episodes
Alex Honnold and Joseph McNeil: How to Change the Future of Energy
Standing Rock has been home to the Lakota people for centuries. When the Dakota Access Pipeline threatened their water and their land, the world showed up. Most people left when the cameras did, but the people of Standing Rock stayed, and today we're talking about what happened next.My guests today are Joseph McNeill of the SAGE Development Authority at Standing Rock Nation, and Alex Honn
John Green: How to Hope
Friends, this was a fun one. I’m somewhat embarrassed to say, I didn't know who John Green was until relatively recently. We met on a Zoom call where I first learned about the fan-owned English Football Club, AFC Wimbledon. Now we’re working together on a film about the power of community ownership through the lens of sports, which feels particularly relevant as more and more soccer teams
Dr. Jessica Gordon-Nembhard: How to Build a Cooperative Economy
Rostam here. I came up in the worlds of finance and venture capital - worlds that fancy themselves as disruptors and visionaries, but in reality, they reinforce the status quo by further consolidating wealth and power to a few at the expense of the many.Throughout this podcast, we've been making the case that building a truly fair society requires building a fair economy. My guest today b
Brian Boland: How Big Tech Harms Us and What We Can Do
Income inequality in America has reached levels not seen since the Gilded Age - and by some measures beyond it. The top 1% of Americans now hold more wealth than the entire bottom 90% combined.Our guest today has had a front row seat to how that happens. He was an early employee of the tech oligopoly, and later became a whistleblower testifying before Congress against the very platform he
Announcing: The How to Change the World TV Series
Friends!Big, big, big news. How to Change the World is becoming a TV show. And it’s launching - on our youtube - September 10th with 10 episodes dropping over 10 weeks.In this conversation, the show creators Rostam Zafari and Dylan Mulick sit down together to talk about why they made this, why does it matter, why now? They also share some of their favorite memories, experiences, and lesso
AFC Wimbledon: How to Take Your Club Back
What do you do when a corporation steals your football club, the government looks the other way, and the sport you love makes it all perfectly legal?If you're Marc Jones and your fellow lifelong fans - you build something that’s your own.Marc is one of the founders of AFC Wimbledon, the fan-owned club that rose from the ashes after Wimbledon FC was controversially relocated to Milton Keyn
Mike Tollin (The Last Dance, Radio): How Sports Stories Shape our World
With the World Cup upon us, there's no better time to ask: What is it about sports that makes strangers embrace and entire communities all around the world to hold their breath together?My guest today has spent a career exploring those questions, making us laugh, cry, and leap for joy through his films, television series, and documentaries. Mike Tollin is a legendary film producer and dir
Paladin: How to Change the Justice System
Today, we’re talking to Kristen Sonday (or as her friends know her, K-Bad), the co-founder and CEO of Paladin. Paladin is working to close what she calls the "Justice Gap," the over 90% of Americans who can't access essential legal services. Together, we break down where our justice system fails to live up to its name, the damaging impact it can have on people and communities as a result,
ReVillage: How to Reclaim the Places We Belong
Community. It’s an idea we come back to again and again on this podcast. Not the superficial buzzword used to sell us coworking spaces, wellness retreats, and condo developments, but the soul-nourishing, and yes, world-changing, power of caring for the places we live, and the people who live there with us. Today we’re joined by my friend and teacher Matt Jorgensen and zoom in on a small t
Rutger Bregman: How to Be Morally Ambitious
“A ship is safe in harbor, but that's not what ships are for.” - John A. SheddMost of us like to think we know what we're living for. Rutger Bregman isn't convinced. The problem, as he sees it, isn't that people are selfish. It's that we've built a culture where playing it safe looks like ambition. We chase titles, salaries, and status not because any of it makes us happy, but because it'
Iran: Inside the Revolution (Pt.3)
What does a revolution look like from the inside? What does it cost? What does it demand from the rest of the world? The world is watching Iran. This episode is part of a miniseries we're dedicating to understanding what's actually happening there, and the struggle for freedom of a people caught between a barbaric regime on one side and missile strikes on the other. Spend time with the pe
Iran Inside the Revolution - Part 2
Welcome to Part 2 of our three part series - Iran: Inside the Revolution. What does a revolution look like from the inside? What does it cost? What does it demand from the rest of the world? The world is watching Iran. This episode is part of a miniseries we're dedicating to understanding what's actually happening there, and the struggle for freedom of a people caught between a barbaric r
Iran: Inside the Revolution - Part 1
What does a revolution look like from the inside? What does it cost? What does it demand from the rest of the world? The world is watching Iran. This episode is part of a miniseries we're dedicating to understanding what's actually happening there, and the struggle for freedom of a people caught between a barbaric regime on one side and missile strikes on the other. Spend time with the pe
KOTN: How to Build a Business Worth Believing In
There's ample evidence to suggest that philanthropy alone won't save the world. We have to find ways for businesses to step up to the global challenges we face. But in an era of corporate greenwashing, how do you know who's actually doing the work? Today we’re talking to Rami Helali, founder of KOTN, a wildly popular fashion brand rewriting the rules on ethical business. We get into how g
Kat Taylor: How to Fix our Broken Banking System
On this show - and in the work we do at World Within - we spend a lot of time asking one question: “What happens when the systems we depend on stop working for the communities they’re meant to serve?”Today we’re talking about one of the biggest of them all: banking.And our guide is Kat Taylor.Kat is the co-founder of Beneficial State Bank and a leading voice in the movement to build a mor
Old Salt Pt. 2: How to Rethink Our Relationship with Land
Last episode, we featured Cole Mannix of Old Salt Co-op - a collective of ranchers outside Helena, Montana who are restoring landscapes, local food, and protecting a ranching way of life being squeezed by industrial agriculture.Cooper Hibbard is one of those ranchers.He speaks candidly about family legacy - the cherished values carried forward, and the harder history tied to the land. It’
Old Salt Co-op: How a Montana Town Is Reclaiming Its Food Future
“Land is kin.” It’s the mantra at the heart of what guides Cole Mannix and Old Salt Co-op. Old Salt is a meat company built by ranchers to take the power back from Big Beef. They do everything from pasture to plate, running multiple restaurants and an annual festival that draws thousands to Montana around food, art, and community. This is also a deeply personal story born out of a promise
Lufa Farms: How to Grow Food on Top of a City
It’s an idea so simple it could come from a five-year-old. At least that’s how Lufa Farms founder, Mohamed Hage, refers to their idea of turning idle rooftops into working greenhouses. But the real story - and this conversation - is about what it takes to build it, and what becomes possible once you do.In Montreal, Lufa has become a household name for its rooftop farms, local food deliver
Coral Vita: How to Rescue a Coral Reef
Coral reefs are disappearing fast - and they matter more to our daily lives than most of us realize. Sam Teicher, co-founder of Coral Vita, joins the pod to explain their fascinating approach to reef restoration, which he calls “taking coral to the gym.” We talk Category 5 hurricanes, why the Bahamas is leading this work, and why coral reefs matter whether you live by the ocean or nowhere
Arian Moayed (Succession, Marvel): How to Tell Better Stories
Arian Moayed (Stewy on Succession, Agent Cleary in the MCU) joins us for a joyfully real conversation about acting, ambition, and stories that can actually move culture. Arian opens up about his humble beginnings, the winding road to the stage and screen, and why the stories we tell actually matter. He also shares what it was like working with Robin Williams on Broadway (and why Robin was
Chicago CRED: How to End Gun Violence
In this episode, we hear from Arne Duncan, Curtis Toler, and Billy Moore - leaders whose lives and work are deeply entwined with the realities of violence, healing, and transformation on Chicago’s South and West Sides.This is Chicago Cred.The How to Change the World Podcast is produced by World Within Studios.Our producer and composer is Alexandre Miller, our editing team is Eve Weston, M
Sam Kass: Is This our Last Supper? The Future of Food and How to Change It
With a story that’s one part The Bear, one part The West Wing, Sam Kass might just be the most interesting man in the fight against climate change. He shares his unique path from the highest echelons of fine dining, to White House Chef, to the frontlines of nature-based climate solutions. Sam leads us through a critical conversation about how food and agriculture can become our biggest le
Geralyn Dreyfous: How to Revive Independent Filmmaking
Legendary, Oscar-winning documentary producer Geralyn Dreyfous explores the future of impact storytelling. We get into what makes a film resonate, why Hollywood’s economics are broken, and how new models could shift power back to creators, communities, and independent filmmakers.
The Ginjan Bros: How to Change the World with Less than $1000
You've never heard a story quite like the Ginjan Bros.Brothers Mo and Rahim Diallo share their winding journey from Guinea to New York City. What started as an african juice brand with less than $1,000 is now poised to open new economic pathways for thousands of Guineans and New Yorkers alike.Learn more about the Ginjan Bros (and order some delicious juice!).
Humans of New York: How to Tell a Story
Brandon Stanton is the most famous artist you've probably never heard of.He’s the creator of Humans of New York and his portraits and stories of everyday people have over 30 million followers online, yet to most of his audience he remains invisible.Today we speak with the man behind the camera about art, faith, loneliness, perseverance, and what it means to truly see one another.
Humans of New York: How to Take Over Grand Central Station
The first episode of How to Change the World features Brandon Stanton, the visionary behind online storytelling sensation Humans of New York. He shares the story behind his boldest project yet - turning Grand Central Station into an immersive gallery of New Yorkers and their stories.Together, we explore how to realize a dream this big, the moral complexity of capturing human stories, and
Introducing: The How to Change the World Podcast
The How to Change the World Podcast invites you to sit down with builders, artists, and organizers as they wrestle with today’s challenging questions while providing blueprints, cautionary tales, and calls to action for anyone ready to fight for a more just world.As our host Rostam Zafari put it: "Our world is organized by a financial system that concentrates power and wealth––pulling res
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